The Point Man's Sister
by redbeanmochi
Summary: Just weeks after the inception, the extraction team is back together, sans Cobb, and in need of an extractor. Then, Arthur's little sister comes along and turns their whole world upside down... some AxA, rated T for some colorful language.
1. The Point Man's Sister

A/N: I own none of the characters in this story! Actually, I own Zoe, so… anyways, Ariadne and Arthur belong to Christopher Nolan's Inception, which I don't own, but if I did, I'd be really rich. But I don't own it, so I'm just another poor student.

* * *

The sun was so bright that morning. Ariadne rolled over in her bed, opening one eye to check if it truly was morning already. She sighed as she rolled from her side onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She pulled the covers up to her chin and imagined drawing on the blank ceiling. Feeling a little bit better, Ariadne slowly rose from her bed and crossed over to her door in only her bra and panties from the previous day because she had been too lazy to fully change out of her clothes last night.

About to walk out of her room, she quickly retreated back inside when she realized that Arthur was standing in the kitchen, preparing breakfast. She had almost forgotten that he was staying with him. After the Fischer job, Arthur had no where to go, so Ariadne invited him to stay with her in her apartment. Even though it had already been a few weeks since Arthur had been there, Ariadne still wasn't used to waking up to find the quiet, mysterious man shuffling around her apartment.

"Fucking hell…" she muttered as she quickly closed the door and changed into something more respectable than her underwear.

A few moments later, she stepped into the kitchen, this time with clothing on.

"Good morning Arthur," she yawned with a slight smile as she fixed a cup of coffee next to him.

He mumbled what seemed to be a greeting as he fixed his breakfast, somewhat dazed and confused. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was a mess. Ariadne loved when his hair was messy. She smiled curtly and turned away to stifle a silent giggle. It was amusing to her to see Arthur in the morning. He just simply wasn't the serious, uptight Arthur she had first met and she found it quite refreshing.

But there was something off today. Arthur looked more tired than usual and seemed to be sighing quite a lot this particular morning.

Ariadne counted the number of times he sighed. Twenty three.

Arthur sighed again. Twenty four.

"Is something wrong, Arthur?" Ariadne asked.

"Uhm… You know I have a sister? She's 13," Arthur grunted.

"_Really?_" Ariadne pondered.

"And well… She's going to come visit me for a week or so while my parents are away," Arthur explained.

Ariadne stared at him in shock.

"Dammit. I knew it. I should have protested, but they called in the middle of the night. Jesus. I'm so sorry, Ariadne. I wasn't thinking. I-" Arthur was about to trail on when Ariadne grabbed his hand and laughed.

"Calm down, Arthur. It's fine. She can stay for as long as she likes. I don't mind," Ariadne laughed, amused by Arthur's antics.

"Thank god… I'm not sure how if she'll take me living with a woman very well…" Arthur laughed, pushing his hair out of his face.

"Oh come on now. She couldn't possibly be that bad. I'm sure she's a wonderful girl," Ariadne said, sipping her coffee to hide her flustered face.

"I wouldn't bet on it if I were you…" Arthur muttered with a smirk.

* * *

A/N: I'm sorry it's so short! But I already have chapter 2 finished, and it should be uploaded very soon!


	2. Zoe

A/N: Yay! Second chapter! I'm used to writing simple oneshots, so forgive me if this turns out to be quite awful _

* * *

Today was the day. It was a day of excitement for Ariadne and a day of dread for Arthur. Ariadne could barely sleep last night. She was too eager to find out what Arthur's sister was like. Would she be serious and uptight like Arthur? Or was she completely different? Of course, Arthur knew what she was like. Which was why he was so terrified.

At a quarter past 12, there was a faint knock on the door.

"I'll get it!" Ariadne chirped, heading for the front door.

"NO!" Arthur shouted, throwing his arms up in the air, blocking Ariadne.

"Uh. She's my sister, I'll get it…" he said, his arms retracting to his sides as he turned around and hurried to the door, embarrassed.

He stood in front of the door for a second, just staring at it. Finally, he decided to look through the peephole. It was definitely her. Taking a deep breath, he cautiously grabbed the doorknob and threw the door open.

Surely enough, in front of him was a short little girl with the same dark chocolate hair and hazel eyes as him. Of course, she had grown significantly since he had last seen her, but in Arthur's eyes, she was still the same ball of energy he once feared. He wondered if she had changed at all.

"Arthur!" she squealed as she jumped her brother, hugging him tight and not letting go.

"Uhm hello, Zoe…" Arthur muttered. _Still the same… _he groaned in his mind.

Ariadne peered from her bedroom out into the hallway and giggled.

"Who is _that_?" Zoe asked, letting go of Arthur as she placed her hands on her hips.

"Hello! I'm Ariadne!" Ariadne chirped, emerging from her room.

"She has a funny name!" Zoe giggled, grabbing Arthur's hand.

"Ariadne, this is Zoe. Zoe, this is Ariadne, the woman I'm living with," Arthur sighed. He knew what was to come now that Ariadne had been revealed.

"Are you and Arthur dating?" Zoe prodded with a devilish smile.

"Wha- no! Of course not!" Ariadne stuttered, blushing.

"But… You like him, don't you?" Zoe pondered, standing on her toes to meet Ariadne's eyes. Ariadne was short, but Zoe was even shorter. But even though the petite little girl's eyes were unable to meet Ariadne's, it still felt as though Zoe towered over Ariadne.

"N-no! We're co-workers. It'd be totally wrong," Ariadne insisted. Her face was a bright shade of red now.

"Well, why not? Most girls think Arthur is particularly cute," Zoe pouted.

"Zoe…" Arthur said sternly, rubbing his temples.

"Oh poo. You're no fun, you old stick in the mud," Zoe whined, grabbing her suitcase and trotting off into the living room.

"I thought Eames was the only one who called you that," Ariadne chuckled.

"He used to be. Until Zoe met Eames and now I've got two people running around calling me that…" Arthur sighed, crossing his arms.

"Well, she's certainly… peppy," Ariadne breathed, her face was still burning up.

"Which is why I'm so terrified of her sometimes," Arthur groaned.

"You're afraid of your own sister? She's only 13!" Ariadne laughed.

"Well, I mean, just look at the way she interrogated you! You looked like you were about to die!" Arthur chuckled.

"Oh… hush," Ariadne muttered pursing her lips as she blushed even more than she thought was humanly possible.

Almost immediately after they got Zoe settled down, Arthur and Ariadne received a call from Eames. They had another job.

"What are we going to do with Zoe?" Arthur panicked.

"She should be alright here on her own, shouldn't she? I mean, she's 13 after all," Ariadne said, placing a hand on Arthur's shoulder to calm him. She had never seen him so nervous and confused.

"No, no. I can't leave her here on her own. She will quite possibly destroy your whole apartment," Arthur explained, pacing around the living room.

"We could take her with us, I suppose…?" Ariadne suggested.

"Are you out of your mind? She's a child! She can't be exposed to… _that_!" Arthur snapped, startling Ariadne.

"I'm sorry. It's just that Zoe can be a handful sometimes, but I can't risk taking her with us. She's just a kid," Arthur sighed, rubbing his temples.

"Why can't I go with you, though?" Zoe asked her tone sharp and harsh. Arthur and Ariadne's heads snapped to the doorway where Zoe stood, for God knows how long, her arms crossed and a convincing frown plastered on her face.

"Oh… fuck…" Arthur muttered under his breath.

* * *

Half an hour later, they were on their way to the warehouse. Zoe was jumping up and down in the backseat.

"Zoe, calm down," Arthur scolded.

"Oh, let her play, Arthur. She's just excited," Ariadne smiled, beaming at Zoe.

"Fine…" he muttered with a sigh. He refused to believe that his life was being controlled by his kid sister and a woman he had only known for barely half a year.

"Is Eames gonna be there?" Zoe chirped eagerly.

"Sadly, yes…" Arthur sighed. Zoe cheered.

"She seems to like Eames, doesn't she?" Ariadne noticed.

"Because they tease me together. They're like the Batman and Robin of screwing with my life," Arthur groaned.

The rest of the car ride was silent, besides the occasional chirp or two from Zoe. When they finally arrived, Zoe raced towards Eames and clung to his legs.

"The hell is she doing here?" he asked, confused.

"You know her. Headstrong. Domineering," Arthur said. Ariadne crossed her arms and glared at him. There was something wrong with Arthur, she could tell."

"Arthur, darling. Please tell me your 10 year old sister is not bossing you around," Eames sighed, peeling Zoe from his legs.

"Excuse you, I'm 13," Zoe said, frowning.

"Oh no wonder! I was wondering how you got so big. Sorry, love," Eames apologized, setting Zoe off to the side. Arthur rolled his eyes.

"Where's Yusuf?" Ariadne asked, changing the subject.

"Hello!" a voice called from the other side of the warehouse. It was definitely Yusuf, but his body was hidden by a series of makeshift walls he set up.

"He's working on a new chemical. Best not to disturb him," Eames explained.

"Can you please tell us why we're here?" Arthur asked impatiently.

"We have a job offer... And no extractor," Eames explained, fiddling with his thumbs.

"So I'm here to find us another one? Then what about the rest of you? And more importantly, where the hell is Zoe going to stay because I can't have her running around while I do my work," Arthur snapped in a frustrated tone.

"Arthur said _hell_!" Zoe giggled.

"Yeah, yeah. Arthur's a potty mouth, don't listen to him," Ariadne whispered, grabbing Zoe's hand and pulling her away, glaring back at Arthur as she made her way to her workspace.

"Arthur, what has gotten into you?" Eames scolded, folding his arms.

"I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with me," Arthur insisted as he turned and stormed off to work, leaving Eames standing in the middle of the warehouse. Ariadne rejoined him a moment later.

"So, why'm I here?" she asked.

"Right. So while Mr. Grumpy Face Stick in the Mud finds us an extractor, we'll be working on the job," Eames explained.

"Something's irking him…" Ariadne bit her lower lip as she turned to look at Arthur.

"Oooh, has the little architect become smitten with our point man?" Eames teased with a toothy smile.

"What? No! I'm just worried about him doing his work efficiently! Jesus, Eames," Ariadne stuttered as she turned away to hide her face from him.

"Ariadne, love. This is Arthur we're talking about. The only relationship he'll ever be in is the relationship he has with his work," Eames noted, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, whatever," Ariadne muttered as she quickly ran off to her workspace, once again leaving Eames standing alone in the middle of the warehouse.

"What? Is it Neglect an Eames Day? Cripes…" Eames muttered as he too slunk off to work.


	3. Explanations

Twelve o'clock. Lunch time. Yusuf slipped out of the warehouse, unnoticed, half an hour early for his lunch break, but no one minded and Eames was forced by Ariadne to take Zoe with him. So then, it was Ariadne and Arthur, alone in the warehouse.

"Arthur, we need to talk," Ariadne ordered when she had finally built up the courage to go over and confront Arthur.

"Uh yeah. Sure, ok," Arthur mumbled, a bit shocked by Ariadne's aggressive tone. He slowly rose from his chair when Ariadne grabbed him and shook him.

"What is wrong with you!" she yelped.

"Ariadne! What the hell!" Arthur screeched, confused.

"Zoe! Can't you tell she just desperately wants your attention? But you neglect her! You treat her like she's a co-worker. She's your sister, Arthur!" Ariadne explained, crossing her arms.

"No, Ariadne, you don't understand. Zoe is not like other 13 year old girls. She… She does this thing that I couldn't explain to you even if I wanted to," Arthur explained.

"You can't really expect me to believe that you are afraid of your own sister, Arthur." Arthur simply stared at her and sighed.

"Oh… Geez. You _are_…" Ariadne realized.

"Ok, fine. I'm afraid of my 13 year old sister. You know why? Because when I stopped dreaming, I was scared. I couldn't sleep, so I had to use the suitcase. Zoe found me and went in after me. And you know what happened? She extracted information about my job. She performed an extraction on me. She was only 6, Ariadne. That's why I'm so terrified of her. She doesn't remember it, but I can't let her get close to me…" Arthur sighed, resting his head on his hand.

"Oh my god…" Ariadne muttered as she covered her mouth.

"It's alright, Arthur. She doesn't remember it. It'll be ok," she whispered as she wrapped her arms around Arthur's lean body and squeezed him tight.

Ariadne's face turned candy apple red, but she couldn't help herself. She knew she had always secretly harbored feelings for the point man, but Ariadne always refused to believe it.

_You're just comforting him. This is not a display of romantic affection… You do not- no. You cannot like him, Ariadne, _she thought to herself.

The hug broke off a moment later and Ariadne and Arthur stood, staring at each other. They were both blushing.

"Um. I should get back to work now…" Ariadne muttered, turning to leave.

"Wait!" Arthur called, grabbing her hand. Ariadne stared at him in confusion.

"Quick, give me a kiss," he whispered, smirking.

Ariadne laughed as she grabbed Arthur's face and pulled his face towards hers. Their lips hit each other, hard, but it soon smoothed out into a soft kiss. Nothing like the peck on the lips they shared during the Fischer job. Ariadne's face was burning up so much she felt as if she would just explode at any given second. Suddenly, there was a loud slam.

"HOLY MOTHER OF ALL THAT IS WRONG!" someone shouted.

Ariadne and Arthur whirled around. It was Yusuf. He had returned from his lunch break and now stood a few feet from them, gaping. The couple quickly stepped away from each other, blushing even harder than ever.

"You didn't see that. This is a dream, Yusuf! Check your totem!" Ariadne joked.

"I don't bloody have a totem! I'm a chemist for fucks sake and I don't need one to know whether this is a dream or not right now because I know that I just came from the café across the street and YOU TWO WERE KISSING!" Yusuf screamed, pointing at the two of them.

"Ok ok, fine. We were kissing. Just don't tell Eames or he'll make my life a living hell. Zoe too," Arthur sighed.

"Who the hell's Zoe?" Yusuf asked.

"Yusuf… you really need to stop absorbing yourself in your work. You'll end up like Arthur," Ariadne chuckled.

"What. I'll end up kissing you? Ariadne, you're a wonderful girl, but no thanks," Yusuf joked.

"N-no! Just don't mention it ever again!" Ariadne stuttered, blushing again as she fled to her workspace.

"If you ever bring it up again, I will take you into a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream within a dream and I will keep shooting you until we wake up. And then I will shoot you again in reality," Arthur threatened as he too retreated back to his office.

"Jesus fucking Christ…" Yusuf muttered.

* * *

A/N: This chapter is almost pure fluff. Hehe. I told you there'd be some AriadnexArthur action!


	4. Secrets

The next few days passed normally- Ariadne and Arthur took Zoe to work with them, Eames teased Arthur, and so on. But Eames couldn't help but notice something was wrong with Yusuf. Every time Yusuf saw Ariadne or Arthur, his eyes widened and he would blush, turning away. Eames was intent on finding out what was up.

"Hello, Yusuf, darling!" he chirped, peeking over the makeshift wall. Yusuf jumped, almost dropping the test tube that was in his hand.

"Bloody hell, Eames! If I'd dropped that, the whole warehouse would have exploded!" Yusuf shouted, shaking his fist at the Englishman who stood nonchalantly in his workspace.

"But I only wanted to know how my favorite chemist's work is coming along," Eames cooed.

"Bullshit. Now why are you here?" Yusuf asked, rolling his eyes.

"Right. What's up with Ariadne and Arthur?" Eames asked bluntly.

"Uh… I-I don't know what you're talking about," Yusuf said, turning back to his work.

"You can't lie to me, Yusuf. I'm a forger for fuck's sake- I can tell when you're lying. Besides, you're quite shoddy at it," Eames sighed, leaning against the wall.

"But if I told you, Arthur would kill me. Literally. He said he'd take me into multiple dreams within dreams and keep shooting me until we woke up where he'd shoot me in reality," Yusuf whined.

"What Arthur doesn't know can't hurt him, darling," Eames argued, patting Yusuf on the back.

"Ok fine…" Yusuf said, giving in. He wasn't very assertive anyways.

* * *

Eames passed by Arthur and Ariadne's work spaces and was forced to stifle a schoolgirl giggle. He thought about bursting into Arthur's office and revealing the dirty truth, but he had much better plans in mind.

When lunch time came around, everyone but Arthur and Ariadne cleared out as usual.

"Zoe, love. Why don't you come have lunch with good ol' Uncle Eames?" he purred, grabbing Zoe's hand.

They sat together in a small café across the street. Eames was barely able to contain himself. He wanted to be completely outrageous and jump on a table and reveal this secret to everyone in the café even though he was sure none of them even knew Arthur or Ariadne.

"Why're you being so nice to me today? Yesterday you were really bummed about having to take me out to lunch with you," Zoe asked, kicking her feet back and forth- her feet didn't even reach the floor when she sat down.

"Nonsense! I always enjoy taking Arthur's favorite sister out to lunch!" Eames chirped.

"I'm Arthur's _only _sister," Zoe said, rolling her eyes.

"Which is why it's all the more fun. Speaking of you being Arthur's only sister, what hasn't the stick in the mud told you?" Eames asked, smirking.

"Arthur never tells me anything. It's so infuriating!" Zoe groaned, her face scrunching up as she frowned.

"Oh goody…" Eames muttered, smiling mischievously.

"Why?" Zoe asked, her head tilting slightly to the right.

"How well can you keep a secret?" Eames asked, leaning forward on his elbows.

"What are you plotting, Eames?" Zoe asked with a devilish smile. Eames motioned for her to come closer and Zoe complied, leaning her ear close to Eames' mouth.

"Your brother kissed Ariadne!" he whispered giddily in her ear.

"Oh my god! No way!" she squealed, jumping in her seat.

"No! That's not even possible! Arthur doesn't kiss girls on a whim!" Zoe giggled, squirming around in her seat.

"Well we obviously didn't know him as well as we thought we did," Eames chuckled; relieved he finally got it out of his system.

"I feel like I need to shout it to the world!" Zoe admitted, still giggling.

"No no, not yet, love. I have a plan…" Eames said, smirking.

* * *

Ariadne bit her lip, trying to concentrate on her work, but she simply couldn't. She had been blushing since the day before when Arthur had kissed her and couldn't get it out of her system. Finally, taking a deep breath, Ariadne rose from her seat and headed towards Arthur.

"Why did you want to kiss me?" Ariadne demanded to know, grabbing the arms of Arthur's chair.

"Ariadn- why- what are you doing?" Arthur questioned.

"_Why_?" she pressed on. Arthur turned a bright shade of pink.

"Because… Well because you're just too damn beautiful and I think I might like you, ok?" Arthur admitted. It was Ariadne's turn to blush and be speechless.

"Oh…" she said quietly, releasing her hold on Arthur's chair and looking at the ground. They were speechless for a moment and then they both looked up at each other, just staring. Then, suddenly, they both moved towards each other in and within seconds, they were kissing again. Arthur grabbed Ariadne's waist, holding her small frame closer to his body and Ariadne draped her arms over Arthur's shoulders.

"Ariadne, this is-" Arthur began when they came up for air, but Ariadne cut him off.

"Oh just shut up, Arthur," Ariadne muttered, pressing her lips against his. They backed into the wall and were so engrossed in their relations that they didn't even realize that Eames and Zoe had entered the warehouse.

"OHMYGOD! EAMES YOU WERE RIGHT!" Zoe shouted when she spotted her brother and Ariadne lip locked and pressed up against the wall. Their lips quickly parted from each other, making an unholy smacking sound.

"Jesus Christ! How long has this been going on! And how could I have not known about this? I know everything!" Eames exclaimed.

"Wait a minute. You weren't even there the first ti- YUSUF!" Arthur groaned, smacking his palm to his forehead. At that exact moment, Yusuf just happened to walk through the door. All eyes were on him.

"Oh… shit. PLEASE DON'T KILL ME ARTHUR! IT'S NOT MY FAULT EAMES PRYED IT OUT OF ME!" Yusuf begged, trying to escape the glares he received from Ariadne and Arthur.

"Go back to your chemistry set, you idiot!" Arthur shouted.

"Well, fine! I will!" Yusuf yelled, offended.

"I'll deal with this later," Arthur muttered, storming out of the warehouse, leaving Eames and Zoe staring at Ariadne for an answer.

"Uh… He told me to do it," she said, assertively.

* * *

A/N: The plot thickens! Hope you enjoyed it! There's going to be a twist in the next few chapters or so in which the team finally finds a new extractor...


	5. Let's Talk

After three hours, Arthur still hadn't returned and Ariadne began to worry. She left Zoe in Eames' care and set off to search for Arthur.

"Just don't lose her or… break her or something," Ariadne ordered.

"Right, whatever darling. Just go find your lover so we can get back to work," Eames said, ushering her out of the warehouse.

"He's not my lover!" Ariadne grumbled as her face was dusted with a light shade of pink.

"Which is why you were sucking his face off earlier, obviously," Zoe remarked with a smile.

"He's _not_ my lover!" Ariadne insisted as she stormed off.

"Commence operation love fest…" Eames smiled when she was finally out of earshot.

"That's nice, Eames. Did you come up with that name all by yourself?" Zoe asked sarcastically, placing her hands on her hips.

"What? You don't like the name?" Eames pouted. Zoe glared at him.

"Well I thought it was good…" he mumbled to himself.

* * *

Ariadne had been searching for Arthur, but there were no signs of him anywhere. He wasn't at the bakery down the road, nor was he anywhere to be found in the park that he loved to sit around in.

"Come on, Ariadne. Think. If you were Arthur, where would you be…" She mumbled to herself, standing in the center of the park.

She considered going back to her apartment, but Arthur wasn't that simple. He didn't want to be found. Of course he wouldn't be anywhere anyone would suspect him to be.

"The roof!" Ariadne exclaimed. Arthur once mentioned that he would stand on the roof to find clarity. Ariadne guessed that was the best place to find him. She knew exactly where he was.

She quickly sped back to her apartment complex and raced up the stairs to the roof. The Eiffel tower had the best view of the city of Paris, but the roof of Ariadne's apartment complex had the best view of Paris as a whole. She threw open the door and sure enough, there was Arthur, leaning over the railing and looking out over Paris.

"I know you don't want to talk about it, but…" Ariadne began as she slowly approached the point man. Arthur jumped a bit, hearing her voice and cautiously turned around. He looked at the ground and smiled when he realized it was Ariadne.

"You completely just left Zoe alone, you know," she said, folding her arms.

"But that's not why you're here, is it?" Arthur said with a smirk.

"No, but… I thought I told you to be nicer to her," Ariadne said, changing the subject.

"I left her alone. That's nice enough," Arthur argued.

"She's your sister Arthur! You can't just leave her alone like that!" Ariadne scolded.

"She's used to being alone," Arthur said stoically.

"You're really bad at reading emotions, you know," Ariadne chuckled.

"Oh really? How so?" Arthur asked, raising one eyebrow.

"Well, there's Zoe for one. She doesn't want to be alone. She wants you to love her," she explained.

"And then there's…" Ariadne began, but left her voice trailing.

"There's who?" Arthur prodded.

"Well there's me…" Ariadne whispered, fiddling with her fingers.

"I'm not that dense, Ariadne," Arthur whispered, wrapping one arm around her waist.

"Wait, no. Arthur. We need to talk privately," Ariadne said, pushing him away.

"Well I know how we can," Arthur said with a charming smirk.

* * *

"Where _are_ they?" Zoe groaned, resting her head on her hands.

They had been waiting for Ariadne and Arthur to return for hours now and they were beginning to get restless.

"I think we may have miscalculated the outcome a tad bit," Eames mumbled.

"Ok, it is... 8 pm and you need to get back. Come on, love, I'll take you home," he sighed, checking his watch.

"But what if they come back and we're not here to witness it?" Zoe whined, reluctantly rising from her seat and following Eames to his car.

"Well I am tired as hell so I really don't give a f…udge…" Eames paused, trying to keep his foul mouth away from the little 13 year old girl.

They arrived at the apartment only to realize that Zoe didn't have a key.

"I guess I'll have to pick the lock then… By the way, don't tell the lovebirds that I picked Ariadne's lock. They'll have my head, probably. Well, Arthur will anyways," Eames pondered as they stood outside.

"Just pick the lock already!" Zoe whined.

"Jesus! Calm down, child," Eames muttered, picking the lock.

"Well, you're home and safe. Goodbye, I am going home and taking a nice nap," Eames sighed, preparing to leave.

"Wait! Look! Ariadne and Arthur's keys are here! They must be home!" Zoe squealed with excitement.

"So operation love fest worked?" Eames asked, instantly perking up. They crept silently through the house, but there were no signs of Ariadne or Arthur anywhere.

"Look!" Zoe whispered, pushing open Ariadne's bedroom door to reveal Ariadne in her bed and Arthur sitting limply in the armchair beside her; the both of them connected by that magical suitcase.

"Oh… Ok, Zoe, go outside and don't come in until I say so," Eames ordered, preparing to invade their dream.

"Oh, please. I know what it is. I tried it out when I was 6. Arthur thinks I forgot, but I've actually been training myself for the past 7 years he hasn't seen me," Zoe explained, grabbing the wiring of the transfusion from Eames.

"Wait, what!" Eames exclaimed in confusion.

"Don't worry, I'll explain when I wake up," Zoe said, smiling. She sat down at the food of the bed, her back up against the side of the bed. She slowly slid the needle into her wrist, gasping a bit before she too was just another limp body in Ariadne's room.

"What. The FUCK!" Eames yelled.


	6. Extractor

A/N: Two chapters in one day? I am on a roll! Haha enjoy!

* * *

When Zoe's eyes opened, she was sitting on a bench in the park. Which park, she didn't know, but it was definitely familiar to her. She looked around for Ariadne and Arthur, but they were nowhere to be seen. Zoe smirked. She checked her hair and felt her face.

"So I still look like me…" she muttered to herself. Zoe walked around over to a small pond where she bent over and looked at her reflection.

"I think I'll go for blond this time," she said to herself with a devilish smile.

* * *

Ariadne and Arthur sat in a small, crowded café. Neither of them had said anything since they entered the dream. Finally, Ariadne spoke up.

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"About what?" Arthur sighed. But he knew fully what Ariadne was talking about.

"Don't play dumb. You know what I'm talking about," she said sternly.

"Ok, then let's talk about Zoe," he responded, still pretending not to know.

"We can talk about Zoe later, I was talking about _us_, Arthur," Ariadne growled.

"Ok. What about us?" Arthur asked, hiding a smile behind his coffee mug.

"Arthur!" Ariadne scolded, lightly punching him in the arm. They laughed for a moment, but then it was silent again.

"More coffee, sir?" a blond waitress asked, striding up to their booth.

"Yeah, sure. Thanks," Arthur muttered with a smile.

"On a date?" she prodded with a slight smile. Arthur and Ariadne blushed like mad.

"Oh, no! We're not. We're not… together," Arthur stuttered.

"Yet! We're not together, yet," Ariadne smiled, grabbing Arthur's hand.

"Oh, so this is a test run, is it?" the waitress questioned. Ariadne smiled at her.

"Well let me know how it goes, yeah?" she said with a wink as she sauntered off back to the kitchen.

"Well that was genuinely awkward…" Ariadne giggled.

"Ariadne, I think I might love you," Arthur blurted quickly. Upon realizing what he had just said, he quickly picked up his mug and took a large sip.

"We should just, um… Let's go…?" Arthur asked.

"Yeah, we should just go…" Ariadne muttered, looking down at her lap to hide the large smile that was slowly spreading across her face. Arthur called for the waitress and asked for the check quickly.

"We're still paying?" Ariadne asked, chuckling.

"Well we don't want the projections to suspect anything now, do we?" Arthur asked with a smirk. The waitress returned with the check and stood by their booth. Ariadne stared at her strangely as Arthur paid for their drinks.

"Miss…" Ariadne began.

"So, you think you might love her, do you, Arthur?" the waitress asked, grinning.

"Sorry, what?" he asked, almost choking.

"Ah, so you _do_," she said, her grin becoming Cheshire cat huge.

"What the hell?" Arthur asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Good day, Arthur. Ariadne," the waitress said, curtsying to the both of them as she promptly grabbed the knife on the table and stabbed herself, disappearing.

* * *

Zoe gasped as she was thrown back into reality. She pulled the needle from her arm and stood up. Eames ran to her.

"What the hell, Zoe!" he shouted.

"Sh! They're about to wake up," Zoe whispered, smacking Eames. Almost on cue, Arthur and Ariadne shot up from their places. Arthur ripped the needle from his arm and jumped towards Zoe.

"Zoe what the hell did you do? And more importantly, how!" Arthur screamed.

"Ok ok, fine, you caught me. You know that time when I extracted information about your job when I was like, 6? Yeah, I still remember all of it. I've been training myself to lucidly dream since then. Um… Oh. I hacked your computer and I have all of your files. What else… Right. I learned how to forge in the process too. Mom and dad aren't actually away for a meeting. They've been retired for 3 years now and I've been in boarding school. I was the one who called you and you were obviously too beat out to realize that it was your 13 year old sister pretending to be your mother. Questions?" Zoe explained, crossing her arms.

"I think your sister might be a genius, Arthur," Ariadne chuckled.

"This is no laughing matter!" Arthur snapped. Ariadne stopped laughing.

"So if you're not here because your parents are away, why are you here?" Eames asked.

"I extracted information from all the girls at school. I got bored," Zoe admitted with a shrug.

"Wha- How is that even possible?" Arthur asked.

"Oh please, I know where you hide your spare suitcase, Arthur," Zoe scoffed.

"_You stole my suitcase_?" Arthur questioned.

"Think of it as borrowing for 3 years," Zoe said smirking. Eames burst into laughter.

"Wow, this is rich. We were all fooled! By a 13 year old!" Eames guffawed. Ariadne sat on her bed, biting her lip to stop her from smiling.

"I think we may have found ourselves a new extractor," Ariadne finally said.

"No way! Seriously!" Zoe squealed, clasping her hands over her mouth.

"No!" Arthur protested.

"Arthur, who else are we going to get? Zoe's the best chance we have. She extracted information from us. She's a wonderful extractor," Ariadne pleaded.

"She's a wonderful _forging _extractor!" Eames added, "By the way, how'd you manage to figure out forging?"

"Well I figured, if when I dream, I'm sometimes I don't look like me, then it should be easy shouldn't it? I mean, if you imagine in a dream that you aren't you, then you shouldn't be you," Zoe explained.

"How are you two even related?" Eames chirped with a loud laugh.

"She is not going to be our extractor!" Arthur yelled. Eames looked at him with a pout.

"_No_!" Arthur insisted.

"Please Arthur? Can't I please be your extractor?" Zoe asked, tugging at his arm. Arthur sighed, as he looked to Ariadne for guidance who simply smiled and shrugged.

"Well you're already an extractor, so why not just join us…" Arthur sighed. The other 3 cheered as Arthur smacked his hand to his face.


	7. Vittoria

Hey, sorry I haven't written anything in like, forever and sorry this is so short! But you know, school and stuff is killing me :(

* * *

The next morning, the team met at the warehouse, per usual, but this time, without hiding anything about their work from Zoe. This confused Yusuf greatly.

"Wait. Sorry, I'm confused. Why aren't we sending her off into some place where she'll never have to hear about this?" Yusuf asked.

"Because…" Arthur sighed rubbing his eyes. He was so petrified that he didn't get a wink of sleep last night because he kept checking his totem to see if this was all a dream. But it wasn't. It was all real, but Arthur refused to accept it.

"Because she's our new extractor!" Ariadne chirped gleefully.

"But she's like… 10…" Yusuf muttered, looking down at Zoe.

Zoe scowled as she took two steps forward, looking up at Yusuf and promptly kicking him in the shin.

"HOLY SHIT FUCK!" Yusuf cursed, grabbing his shin.

"You're such a drama queen, Yusuf," Eames said, rolling his eyes.

"SHE KICKS REALLY HARD THOUGH!" Yusuf complained.

"You guys, shut up. We've got a job," Arthur announced.

"Shit, already? But Zoe's not ready for it. She hasn't even been in training yet," Ariadne said.

"Even if she were fully trained, she wouldn't be able to do it. Which is why I called Vittoria," Arthur explained.

"Who's Vittoria?" Ariadne and Zoe questioned.

"The devil…" Eames muttered with a scowl.

"I hear my name," a voice said from behind the team.

A tall brunette emerged from the door behind them. The model-esque Italian sauntered over to the team and smirked, acknowledging Eames' presence.

"_This _is Vittoria. Cobb and I worked with her a few years back. She's a wonderful extractor. Vittoria, this is Yusuf, Ariadne, and Zoe and of course you remember Eames," Arthur introduced.

"Of course I remember Mr. Eames. It's quite impossible to forget a drunken man wearing nothing but a poncho," Vittoria smirked. Eames scowled and flicked her off.

"You guys! Minors! In the room!" Arthur scolded, covering Zoe's eyes.

"So this must be the little twerp who screwed you over. Hi I'm Vittoria," she said with a smile, sticking her hand out to Zoe.

"I'm Zoe and if the only person you're going to make fun of is Eames, then we're not going to get along," Zoe said, shaking her hand.

* * *

  
When the day was over, the team agreed to go out and celebrate the addition of Vittoria and Zoe to their team. As they walked to the restaurant, Ariadne pulled Arthur to the back of their crowd.

"So what's with Vittoria and Eames?" Ariadne asked Arthur.

"When they first met, which was in a bar, Eames challenged Vittoria to a drinking game. Ten shots of vodka in 5 minutes. Vittoria won. Which is why you never make a bet with her- she'll always win," Arthur explained as Ariadne burst out laughing.

"Oi lovebirds! Hurry it up!" Yusuf shouted.

"We're not dating!" they shouted in unison, blushing.

"Yeah, whatever. Just get your sloth arses over here. It's piss cold out tonight and it's warm inside, so hurry up!" Eames yelled at them. Arthur and Ariadne roll their eyes at him.

"Shall I escort you 5 meters to the restaurant then?" Arthur asked, holding out an arm.

"Why thank you, good sir," Ariadne laughs, weaving her arm around his as they head off towards the restaurant together.

When they enter the restaurant, the waiter looks at them quizzically. But none of them minded. Of course they knew that it would seem odd to see a group of twenty and thirty some year olds and then one little 13 year old. They take a table at the back of the restaurant.

"So who's our mark this time?" Eames asks.

"Not now, Eames. We're celebrating," Ariadne scolds.

"If we're celebrating, then we should order some liquor," Vittoria smirks.

"NO. NO LIQUOR," Eames protests.

"Well, it's a celebration. What would a celebration be without a little wine?" Ariadne says with a shrug.

"Fine. But only wine. No vodka…" Eames mutters.

"I'm so lost… But as long as I'm getting my liquor, I'm good," Yusuf says, as clueless as always.

Half an hour later and 10 bottles of wine later, Ariadne, Vittoria and Zoe are the only ones still standing. Arthur is passed out on the table, Yusuf has escaped to the bathroom and Eames ran off after the third bottle, in fear of losing to Vittoria again.


	8. The Bathroom

A/N: Ack I realized I haven't updated in FOREVER, but homework, you know (junior year should just end now). anyways, we're getting a little bit deeper (WE NEED TO GO DEEPER) into the plot now, so I'm quite happy about that. enjoy! As always, Inception does not belong to me. however, Vittoria and Zoe are my own made up characters.

* * *

  
That Saturday, while the team took the weekend off, Vittoria trained Zoe.

"But it's _Saturday_. I don't want to work on Saturday," Zoe whined to Arthur.

"Zoe, if you want to work with us, you're going to have to train," he scolded. Zoe pouted and looked to Ariadne for help. Ariadne gave her an empathetic smile and shrugged.

On Saturday, there was peace and quiet in Ariadne's apartment for a change. Arthur sat at the kitchen table, working on his laptop, giving an occasional grunt of confusion. Ariadne locked herself away in her room, drawing outlines of the various dream levels and constantly clutching at her hair in frustration.

Deciding to put her mind at ease, Ariadne slipped out of her room and into the bathroom to take a shower. She sighed as the hot water trickled across her skin and steam filled the tiny bathroom. Normally, Ariadne took 5 minutes to shower, trying her best not to use all the hot water- there were 3 people living in her apartment, after all. But today, there was no one to argue with her so Ariadne took her own sweet time.

However, Arthur, not realizing that Ariadne was still in the bathroom, decided to take a shower as well…

"You've done this before, no?" Vittoria asked Zoe, holding a needle.

Zoe nodded.

"Good, let's begin shall we?" she added with a smirk so devilish, Zoe was almost sure Vittoria was going to kill her.

In truth, the woman terrified Zoe. Every time Vittoria spoke, Zoe shut her mouth and tended to hide behind Arthur. The only reason she didn't want to be there was because it was Vittoria and she knew she was going to be alone with her.

Vittoria slipped the PASIV needle under Zoe's skin, as well as her own. Sitting in lawn chairs, side by side, in the warehouse, the two of them felt their eyelids slowly droop shut until finally, they fell into a state of relaxation.

When they opened their eyes, they found themselves sitting in a quiet café.

"The secret to extraction," Vittoria began with no delay, "is asking the right questions."

Humming quietly to himself, Arthur made his way towards the bathroom door. The bathroom door- which had a broken lock. He swung the door open, revealing Ariadne wearing nothing but her bra and panties, drying her hair.

"HOLY FUCK, ARTHUR. WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she screamed, shielding her body with her arms.

"OH MY GOD, I AM SO SORRY," Arthur screamed, simultaneously as he closed his eyes.

"WHAT THE FUCK?" Ariadne cried as she shoved Arthur out of the doorway and slammed the door shut.

Flabbergasted, Arthur took a few steps backwards and sat himself down on the couch. He stared at the blank wall across from him in shock; his back slumped into a perfect curve and his arms dangled between his legs.

When Ariadne finally emerged from the bathroom, Arthur shot up from the couch. They stared at each other for a moment and then Ariadne pursed her lips, her eyes shooting towards the ground, unable to face Arthur.

"Ariadne, I'm so sorry. I honestly didn't know you were still in there. You usually only take a few minutes so I just figured you were already done," Arthur explained in a hurry taking a step forward.

"No, no it's all my fault. I really should have just fixed the lock earlier," Ariadne retaliated, her face turning red.

"I didn't even see anything," Arthur insisted.

"We'll just… Leave it then. It never happened." Ariadne agreed, closing her eyes, as if doing so would erase the memory from her mind.

"Is it just always going to be like this, then?" Arthur asked.

"Like what?"

"Pretending like these things never happened."

Ariadne bit her lower lip, searching for an answer. A few times, she opened her mouth to speak, only to close it once again to search for a better response.

"Look, I like you Arthur. I really do. But it's totally unprofessional. And especially with your sister living with us. We can't let things get too awkward," she said at last.

"Right… too awkward…" Arthur mumbled, towering over Ariadne.

"Arthur, we can't…" she muttered, longing to reach out and touch him. She could feel the heat radiating from his body and she wanted nothing more than to hold him. Ariadne's eyes trailed from the ground up to Arthur's face. Their eyes locked, faces just inches apart, and for what seemed to be forever, they simply stared at each other. There was nothing to be said- they knew.

They knew of the uncanny bond they had with each other. They knew what the other was thinking. They understood now- there was an undeniable attraction between the two of them. Whether or not it was love, they could not yet tell, but they simply could not stay away from each other.

Their moment of silence was thusly interrupted by a loud ringing. Ariadne looked back down at the ground, letting out a nervous chuckle as she slipped away to answer the phone. Surprisingly enough, it was Vittoria on the other end. Ariadne wondered how she even came to obtain her number- they had only known each other for a few days after all.

"Hello? Ariadne? It's me, Vittoria," she explained, rather smugly.

"Oh, yes? What is it? Should we- I mean I come pick up Zoe now?"

"No, no that won't be necessary. If it's alright with you, I'd like to take Zoe to dinner. Bond with her," Vittoria questioned. Ariadne could hear her smiling into the phone.

"Oh uhm well…" Ariadne trailed before holding out the phone to Arthur, letting out a squeak to catch his attention.

Arthur took the phone from Ariadne, listened to what Vittoria had to say, mumbled a quick, "Sure as long as she's back before 10" and hung up.

Ariadne stood across the room, fiddling with her fingers. They stared at each other in an awkward silence until Ariadne finally spoke.

"I should get back to work now…" she said quietly.

"Yeah, me too…" Arthur mumbled, his face turning a fire-y red.

The pair turned from each other and walked away- Ariadne to her room and Arthur to his laptop- and as always, pretended nothing happened.

* * *

A/N: he he I'm such a tease.


End file.
